This is a review I originally posted on a website called Glassdoor (glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/BroadbandTV-Reviews-E727137.htm), but BBTV keeps getting my review removed (and other reviews removed) so I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to post it here. The review may sound harsh, but it's the truth. They've even gone as far as removing other reviews with constructive criticism, and having their PR team create their own 5 star review. I'm just glad I never signed an NDA or non-compete. Anyways, here it is:
Title
Shady Company - Exploits Younger Employees
Pros
Hours of humor and laughs supplied to employees because of upper management's foolish actions.
Cons
To be honest, I've been sitting here looking at this page for about 10 minutes, and the only thing I've been repeating in my head is - "I don't know where to begin". BroadbandTV is a company that is solely around to just take money from YouTubers. As a base, they offer a 60% revenue share with a several-year lock in contract. They essentially take 40% for providing nothing to their partner. Competitors offer 80% or 90% revenue shares with 10-to-12-month lock in contracts.
Now, let's talk about the company, hiring practices, and what being staff is actually like.
TGN is easily the largest and most well-known "brand" of BroadbandTV. TGN started out as its own sub-network under BBTV. This means that they represented themselves as their own brand, but were directly under, and at the mercy of the parent company.
Since this is an online company with outsourced staff, anyone could apply for a recruiter position. This entailed messaging YouTube channels and attempting to get them to join the network. Everyone was provided a template to use, so they made it easy to spam channels with the same message all day. What wasn't easy was actually becoming staff, though. The recruitment/outreach department (now called Content Scouts) brought on dozens of applicants (basically all teenagers) and put them into a trial period. This trial period was generally 30 to 60 days long, and depending on how many views you brought in to the network, it determined whether you would actually become a paid staff member or not.
When you were in this trial period, you would have no real access to any tools necessary for partnering channels. If you had someone interested in joining, you would have to message the person in charge of you to partner them. This means that you're actually doing the work for the real TGN staff so it looked like they were doing their job, and in turn, they got paid for your work. They've since stopped this practice, though.
Now on to pay... If you were lucky enough to get past the trial period, you had your first real chance of getting a paycheck. At the time, the lowest amount you could get was $200 for bringing in 45,000 daily views within 1 month.
Let's do some math though..
Let's assume that 25,000 of those views were monetized, and that they earned a $5.5 CPM. 25,000 x 5.5 / 1,000 x 30 = $4,125. After BBTV pays the partners, that is $1,450 for them, and $200 for the person that actually brought in all that money. Oh, and you wouldn't get that money the next pay period, either. Even though you continued to generate them money for the channels you already recruited, they would only pay you for them one time - so if you multiply their 40% cut by 12 (the amount of revenue for 1 year), they get $19,600 and you got $200. Great deal! Now if you wanted to get paid your $200 again, you better recruit another 45,000 daily views next month.
Not too much later, BroadbandTV bought TGN and the CEO of TGN left. At the time, it sure seemed like things were getting better. BBTV was starting to require staff to have a contract (yeah, before they basically used teenagers without actually formally employing them), and they were starting to pay on a (very low) commission model. Well, this contract also had a nice non-compete, so if you wanted to get your meager commission that some people depended on to pay bills, you better not have plans on working at a YouTube network for at least a few years.
At this point, I knew my time with Broadband was up. I didn't sign their contract, and I wanted to contact management about leaving and getting severance pay. At this point, I hadn't been paid for 3 months, and they owed me well over $1,000.
Now, trying to actually get in contact with upper management such as HR was a nightmare in its own. They did not care one single bit about replying to emails or Skype messages, no matter how important they were or how many times you attempted to make contact with them. They even put off emails from the head of recruitment. Basically, it took me at least 1 month before he actually got back with me. I was offered $100 if I signed an NDA. After being spat on like that, I left and didn't looked back.
Now on to their current practices... Staff are still outsourced, expendable, underpaid, and undervalued. Teenagers built BroadbandTV to what it is today. Think of it like a sweatshop. They hire people with degrees to work in office to increase the value of the company, while the outsourced staff do all of the real work and get paid peanuts while the suits reap the benefits.
I could literally make a full-length documentary about their shady practices (I didn't even get into their unrealistic expectations and long hours they want you to work), but I don't have the time for that, so I'll cut it off here. Current staff that I am still friends with say that upper management has gotten even worse since I left. Stay as far away from this company as possible.
Title
Shady Company - Exploits Younger Employees
Pros
Hours of humor and laughs supplied to employees because of upper management's foolish actions.
Cons
To be honest, I've been sitting here looking at this page for about 10 minutes, and the only thing I've been repeating in my head is - "I don't know where to begin". BroadbandTV is a company that is solely around to just take money from YouTubers. As a base, they offer a 60% revenue share with a several-year lock in contract. They essentially take 40% for providing nothing to their partner. Competitors offer 80% or 90% revenue shares with 10-to-12-month lock in contracts.
Now, let's talk about the company, hiring practices, and what being staff is actually like.
TGN is easily the largest and most well-known "brand" of BroadbandTV. TGN started out as its own sub-network under BBTV. This means that they represented themselves as their own brand, but were directly under, and at the mercy of the parent company.
Since this is an online company with outsourced staff, anyone could apply for a recruiter position. This entailed messaging YouTube channels and attempting to get them to join the network. Everyone was provided a template to use, so they made it easy to spam channels with the same message all day. What wasn't easy was actually becoming staff, though. The recruitment/outreach department (now called Content Scouts) brought on dozens of applicants (basically all teenagers) and put them into a trial period. This trial period was generally 30 to 60 days long, and depending on how many views you brought in to the network, it determined whether you would actually become a paid staff member or not.
When you were in this trial period, you would have no real access to any tools necessary for partnering channels. If you had someone interested in joining, you would have to message the person in charge of you to partner them. This means that you're actually doing the work for the real TGN staff so it looked like they were doing their job, and in turn, they got paid for your work. They've since stopped this practice, though.
Now on to pay... If you were lucky enough to get past the trial period, you had your first real chance of getting a paycheck. At the time, the lowest amount you could get was $200 for bringing in 45,000 daily views within 1 month.
Let's do some math though..
Let's assume that 25,000 of those views were monetized, and that they earned a $5.5 CPM. 25,000 x 5.5 / 1,000 x 30 = $4,125. After BBTV pays the partners, that is $1,450 for them, and $200 for the person that actually brought in all that money. Oh, and you wouldn't get that money the next pay period, either. Even though you continued to generate them money for the channels you already recruited, they would only pay you for them one time - so if you multiply their 40% cut by 12 (the amount of revenue for 1 year), they get $19,600 and you got $200. Great deal! Now if you wanted to get paid your $200 again, you better recruit another 45,000 daily views next month.
Not too much later, BroadbandTV bought TGN and the CEO of TGN left. At the time, it sure seemed like things were getting better. BBTV was starting to require staff to have a contract (yeah, before they basically used teenagers without actually formally employing them), and they were starting to pay on a (very low) commission model. Well, this contract also had a nice non-compete, so if you wanted to get your meager commission that some people depended on to pay bills, you better not have plans on working at a YouTube network for at least a few years.
At this point, I knew my time with Broadband was up. I didn't sign their contract, and I wanted to contact management about leaving and getting severance pay. At this point, I hadn't been paid for 3 months, and they owed me well over $1,000.
Now, trying to actually get in contact with upper management such as HR was a nightmare in its own. They did not care one single bit about replying to emails or Skype messages, no matter how important they were or how many times you attempted to make contact with them. They even put off emails from the head of recruitment. Basically, it took me at least 1 month before he actually got back with me. I was offered $100 if I signed an NDA. After being spat on like that, I left and didn't looked back.
Now on to their current practices... Staff are still outsourced, expendable, underpaid, and undervalued. Teenagers built BroadbandTV to what it is today. Think of it like a sweatshop. They hire people with degrees to work in office to increase the value of the company, while the outsourced staff do all of the real work and get paid peanuts while the suits reap the benefits.
I could literally make a full-length documentary about their shady practices (I didn't even get into their unrealistic expectations and long hours they want you to work), but I don't have the time for that, so I'll cut it off here. Current staff that I am still friends with say that upper management has gotten even worse since I left. Stay as far away from this company as possible.
)
some channels will still be with them, 3-5 years from now 